Trump says US knows where Khamenei is hiding; Tehran chaos as US president tells people to evacuate’; Israel ‘in control’ of Iranian airspace

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said last night it believes Israeli airstrikes on Iran’s Natanz enrichment site have had “direct impacts” on the facility’s underground centrifuge halls. It’s the first time the UN’s nuclear watchdog has assessed damage from the strikes in the underground parts of Natanz, which is the main enrichment facility of Iran’s nuclear program.

“Based on continued analysis of high-resolution satellite imagery collected after Friday’s attacks, the IAEA has identified additional elements that indicate direct impacts on the underground enrichment halls at Natanz,” the agency said. An above-ground enrichment hall had already been destroyed by Israel.

The underground part of the Natanz facility, which had some 15,000 centrifuges separating uranium isotopes before Israel started its strikes, is protected by a steel and concrete shell.

The IAEA had previously suggested Natanz’s vast enrichment halls remained intact, even as damage to surface structures at the base were clearly visible to satellites. If the reassessment is accurate and Iran’s highest-capacity enrichment site has been taken out, it would be another major blow to the country’s nuclear ambitions.

Along with destroying Iran’s only uranium-conversion facility in Isfahan, breaching Natanz’s fortification counts as a major accomplishment for Israel, which seeks to roll back the Islamic Republic’s ability to produce nuclear fuel. The IAEA has yet to detect damage at Iran’s other underground enrichment site in Fordow.

AP, Bloomberg